gil4

That uniform in the photo is possibly the ugliest in the history of baseball. We really should photoshop it out, even if we replace it with something drawn in Paint. A cartoon version of a real uniform is better than a real version of that cartoon uniform. It is a good photo, though. Tell the folks in the background they better pay attention to the game or they are going to get drilled with a foul ball.

That's big news. Hopefully he can have some success and salvage some of the season.

Me too, but if he pitches like he did today, that would be fine, too.

Doesn't look like it was edible the first time. Hideous.

We have them here in Oklahoma too. We don't get temps in the -30°F range, however, which is what I think of when I think about the Dakotas.

I've lived in Minnesota* and never been to South Dakota. I don't think I've ever been to Menards, either. * - Dec 1964 - Aug 1965

That didn't take long. I heard on another thread that the idea that his fastball is straight as an arrow is just an illusion that fools batters into hitting massive home runs,

Has he expressed any opinions on what role he envisions for himself? I have seen a lot of speculation on how he could be used, but nothing about how open he is to an unorthodox role.

I agree with all, especially 1 and 4. Those guys are the future. Plan B is start all over again. They need to give them every opportunity to succeed, because plan B isn't very pleasant to think about.

He's pretty skinny. It might not be a bad idea.

Twins fan? Sounds more like he hates us.

Our last manager that had the personality of a box of Triscuits won the World Series twice, so I'm OK with it.

I think it's a valid point of discussion for anyone who has been caught using. How much did he benefit? How long do the benefits last? What is the risk for a 2nd suspension? I have more sympathy for international players caught using PEDs because the laws and product availability in their countries often make it easy to accidentally take something that isn't approved. I also have lived in Germany and Belgium, and I know what a pain it is to have to try to read fine print in a language that is not your own, even when there is a support structure in place. Still, MLB has no such sympathy, and if he slips again it 1 year, I believe. That's going to be a factor in evaluating his value.

It's hard to say a bench bat would have made two games worth of difference, given the fact that the difference between a Vargas/Park and whoever they might hit for is significant but not huge. I'd still rather have the bat than having two black holes on the roster (pitcher # 13 and DanSan.) I almost lost it when Santana was a defensive replacement yesterday, but then he made a nice play on the carom off the wall to save a run and hold the batter to a single. I could easily see Grossman butchering that play into a triple... Since the original topic was the other Santana, I will add my agreement that I'd be open to trading him if the team is below .500 and the return is significant, but his contract is looking pretty good right now, so there is no need to force the trade if the other teams aren't offering a premium.

It might be that Shields has lost so much off his "fastball" that it now has arc rather than sink.

I take it you remembered Juan Rincon and changed your mind on this one?

I told my daughter she can date when she's 30. Only 8 years to go!

Carole? And all this time I thought ChiTown was her real name.

Let me guess, you increased it by one, and the suckers all used it on your post.

That has to be about the worst tiebreaker ever. Just running through some possibilities, run differential, head-to-head run differential (among the three tied teams), runs scored per inning (total and then head to head), baserunners and baserunners allowed per inning (again, both total and then head to head). Can you imagine a team advancing because a scorer decided to change a ruling from hit to error? A coin toss is a better second tiebreaker than ER/inning.

They are somewhere between dislike and hate. I dislike most matte helmets. I hate the White Sox. Most of you can do the rest of the math - that was demonstrated a couple of days ago.

I haven't been as high on Rosario as some others, but at age 25 there is still reason to believe he can take a large step forward. I wouldn't expect him to lead the league in OBP anytime soon, but he was had decent production even with amazingly bad plate discipline. If he is able to improve that aspect from horrendous to merely below average, he could be very good.

Patients, as in mental patients? Are you saying we should all have our heads examined? I'm sure you meant patience, but that was a very nice Freudian slip.

I agree completely, and it was that bad the whole time. The Twins were competing through 2010. When the wheels came off in 2011, there weren't many pieces to be salvaged. Pavano, Baker, and Morneau were hurt. Had Kubel left already? Mauer was on a no-trade contract. Thome was old. Willingham was old and regressed massively after his good year. Hardy was traded for Hoey. There just was no Eaton or Sale to build a fire sale around.

Lost me at "They had a good defensive catcher in Kurt Suzuki and let him walk" and just read the rest for laughs. I don't think there's a cool hashtag for that, though. My son is a senior in HS and is probably the best bunter on the team and is one of the two fasted kids. He didn't get either of those from me - I coached kids baseball for about 12 years (3 sons) and I never gave the bunt sign in all that time. We practiced it some, but it as never a priority. I also had more of a Hrbek build, with wheels to match, so speed genes cam from mom. I will say bunting came in handy for my son earlier this year. He hurt his back swinging a bat and missed a couple of games. His first game back he could do everything but swing, so the coach had him play the field and used the DH for him. (In HS, the DH can hit for any position.) In the 4th inning, the DH got on and coach sent my son in to run (DH now gone). (The next batter hit a line drive with my son running - easy DP) We got to the bottom of the 7th (7 inning game) down 9-2 against a team we should beat. My son leads off with a bunt hit and comes around to score. A couple of batters later, they change pitcher to a guy who throws BP. My son gets up again with the tying run on 2nd and tells the coach he was going to try to swing. The 3B was in expecting a bunt, but he was able to slap a roller past him that the SS just got to. The throw was late and shorthopped the 1B, so the runner from 2nd kept going and just beat the throw to the plate. My son steals second, then steals third. The throw to third bounced and deflected away. The SS got to it pretty quickly, so there was a play at the plate, but my son beat throw - game over. The coach afterwards told the team "You screwed up my post-game speech with that comeback, but I'm going to give it anyway because you never should have been down 9-2 to those guys." It was still worth sitting through the first 6-1/2 innings to get to that I still want to get the coach one of the t-shirts I saw on the #neverbunt feed: Make America Rake Again #NeverBunt (He likes to give away outs.)